Diagnostic medical imaging systems typically include a scan portion and a control portion having a display. For example, ultrasound imaging systems usually include ultrasound scanning devices, such as ultrasound probes having transducers that are connected to an ultrasound system to control the acquisition of ultrasound data by performing various ultrasound scans (e.g., imaging a volume or body). The ultrasound systems are controllable to operate in different modes of operation to perform the different scans. The signals received at the probe are then communicated and processed at a back end.
The transducers in medical ultrasound probes typically contain array(s) having a large number of transducer elements, which may include associated per-element electronic circuits. The probes may be mechanically fragile, so it is common to experience degradation or even defects of some elements during the lifetime of the probe. One cause of failures is mechanical shock, for example if the probe is dropped on the floor. Other causes of failures may be the failure of electrical interconnects, partial delamination of the transducer lens or other acoustic layers, local depolarization of piezoelectric material, etc. Element degradation will deteriorate the quality of the image produced by the probe. In conventional systems, it is difficult or impossible to diagnose the array uniformity (or “health state”) of a probe without use of special test equipment and/or test modes of the system. These know systems include the use of special test circuitry, use of special test objects, or use of special test modes. In some systems, special test software may be provided on the console, for example that includes “imaging” using only a single element of the probe, and having the operator step through the array under test one element at a time. This test is cumbersome, and, while it can be used to show the presence of elements that are defective, it is hard to obtain quantitative information from the test. Typically such a test would be performed by a service technician, and not by a sonographer. Thus, these known methods for diagnosis, if even possible to perform, are very time consuming and can be costly.